Radisson Blu Sydney Review

Update, October 2026: this hotel is now Paradox Sydney

The Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel Sydney at 27 O’Connell Street was rebranded as Paradox Sydney in July 2025 (Hospitality Net), so it is no longer a Radisson. Club Carlson, which I used for this stay, became Radisson Rewards, and the Americas side of that program has since moved into Choice Privileges (see the box below), so the points math below is history. My stay was in 2014.

As I mentioned in my post on Qantas A380 First Class, on arrival I was given a chauffeur that would take me nearly anywhere I wanted to go within Sydney. My friends and I took it to the Radisson Blu Sydney, where we would be spending two nights. I booked this hotel using 50K Club Carlson Rewards points that I got from their credit card (50K a night, but second night free). Check out my Beginners Guide to Club Carlson Rewards and my post on manufacturing Club Carlson Rewards points for more information.

Radisson Blu Sydney Review

The flight from LAX-SYD lands very early, well before check-in time, but I thought I’d give a try and see if it was possible to check-in anyway. The front desk agent was extremely nice and informed us that our room was almost ready and we just needed to wait a few minutes. She also informed me that she upgraded my room to a corner “Spa Suite” due to my Club Carlson Rewards Gold status, which I have just by owning the credit card.

The room was on the first floor, and since it’s a downtown area I was really worried about street noise. When I got into the room I was kind of surprised because I couldn’t see how this room could be considered a suite – it really was just a corner room. I suppose the regular rooms are much smaller, but there wasn’t a formal living room like there is in most suites.

I made the reservation for 3 people since I was traveling with some friends, and thankfully the hotel had already set up a roll away bed for the third person. They also provided extra bathroom amenities – very thoughtful of them to do so without asking!

The bed was comfortable and I had no complaints about them or anything else in the room.

There was a desk, a small TV, and a closet, and there really wasn’t much else going on in this room. And for me, that’s just fine because I didn’t plan to be there much anyway. The internet worked well once you got it connected, but that was a bit of a challenge as it kept disconnecting. This was possibly due to the room being in the corner of the hotel.

Note that at check-in I was informed that breakfast was not included in the room rate (nor did I expect it to be), but I could take advantage of it for $35 per person if I buy it the day of or I could buy it in advance for $25 per person. I opted to pass in order to have some authentic Australian pies every morning.

The bathroom had both a shower and a tub, plus a fancy sink and of course a toilet.

The shower was kind of small but I had no issue with it. The only thing of note is that the water pressure is off the charts – I literally had to brace myself before turning it on because it felt like I was being sprayed with a fire hose.

There were plenty more bath amenities including toothbrushes in the bathroom.

In the center of the ceiling in the bathroom was a light, but that thing felt more like a heat lamp. You would really feel the heat if you stood directly underneath it for more than a few seconds, and it was most noticeable when coming out of the shower. It made the whole bathroom warm.

The location of the hotel is excellent in my opinion. It’s located amongst a lot of tall buildings in the downtown area but it’s still only a 5 minute walk to Circular Quay and a view of the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House itself is only about a 10 minute walk, and the Park Hyatt Sydney (where I was headed to next) was about a 15 minute walk.

I mentioned earlier that I was worried about street noise since I was on the first floor. I’m happy and somewhat surprised to report that there was absolutely no street noise at all in the room. It seems like they’ve done a terrific job of sound-proofing their rooms, because we were there on weekdays.

Radisson Blu Sydney Review – Summary

That’s really all there is to this hotel. There’s no breakfast to review, no view to speak of, and nothing negative at all to report. To me there really aren’t many better hotel points redemptions than this one because of it’s excellent location and cheap effective price of just 25K points a night. If you manufactured the points like I explained in this post, this hotel would only cost you $30/night. That’s superb value.

When I’m staying in a city like Sydney, my usual objective is to find a hotel with a convenient location and comfortable rooms. After all, I don’t plan on being in the room very long because I hope to be out and about exploring the city. I find that if I book an amazing hotel in a big city, I tend to want to stay at that hotel to enjoy it (and get the most for my points), just as happened to me at the Park Hyatt Tokyo a while back. The Radisson Blu Sydney was perfect for me and I would absolutely stay here again and very highly recommend it to everyone that’s looking to stay in Sydney.

But how will it stack up against the Park Hyatt Sydney? I spent 4 nights there, and that review is up next!

Have you stayed at the Radisson Blu Sydney? What did you think of the hotel?

← Previous: SmartGate in Australia · Next: Park Hyatt Sydney →